Medical treatment of various illnesses or diseases commonly includes the use of one or more medical devices. Two types of medical devices that are commonly used to repair various types of body passageways are an expandable graft or stent, or a surgical graft. These devices have been implanted in various areas of the mammalian anatomy. One purpose of a stent is to open a blocked or partially blocked body passageway. When a stent is used in a blood vessel, the stent is used to open the occluded vessel to achieve improved blood flow which is necessary to provide for the anatomical function of an organ. The procedure of opening a blocked or partially blocked body passageway commonly includes the use of one or more stents in combination with other medical devices such as, but not limited to, an introducer sheath, a guiding catheter, a guide wire, an angioplasty balloon, etc.
Various physical attributes of a stent can contribute directly to the success rate of the device. These physical attributes include radiopacity, hoop strength, radial force, thickness of the metal, dimensions of the metal and the like. Cobalt and chromium alloys and stainless steel are commonly used to form stents. These materials are commonly used since such materials have a known history of safety, effectiveness and biocompatibility. These materials however have limited physical performance characteristics as to size, strength, weight, bendability, biostability and radiopacity.
The present invention is generally directed to a method and process for manufacturing and producing a medical device, and more particularly directed to a method and process for manufacturing and producing a stent that is at least partially formed of a novel metal alloy.